ANC wants to know more about arms deal

The ANC said Zuma would remain its candidate for President next year and expressed ‘grave misgivings’ about corruption charges against him. According to Business Day, after its first meeting since Zuma was elected head of the party, the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) questioned prosecutors’ handling of the charges of corruption, fraud, money laundering and racketeering against Zuma. ‘The meeting expressed concern and grave misgivings about the timing of these charges and the general conduct of the NPA (National Prosecuting Authority),’ ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe said. Mantashe said the NEC had reaffirmed its support for Zuma, in whom it had full confidence. Full Business Day report

An ad-hoc committee will be appointed to draw up a ‘detailed factual report’ on the arms deal – but the report will not be made public. Party treasurer-general Mathews Phosa said ‘we need to get a detailed formal report... to take informed decisions on what to do and locate this case and the charges against the president’. He said: ‘We have a duty to get information on the arms deal from all sources, particularly official sources.’ The ad-hoc committee, says The Times, would include party deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe, Phosa, Lindiwe Sisulu and Cyril Ramaphosa. Mantashe said the committee would help the NEC understand the arms deal ‘on a much more informed basis’. Zuma faces trial in August on charges related to alleged corruption in SA’s multi-billion rand arms deal. He is being charged alongside French arms company Thint. Full report in The Times

The proposed report was shot down as inadequate by Independent Democrats (ID) leader Patricia de Lille. Arms deal corruption must be probed by an independent judiciary, she said. ‘It is the ANC right to set up an ad-hoc committee on the arms deal, but we in the ID want all the allegations of corruption in the deal to be tested by an independent judiciary,’ she said, according to a report on the Mail & Guardian Online site. De Lille said the only way for South Africans to get justice was from the Constitution and the judiciary. Full Mail & Guardian Online report

President Thabo Mbeki could also be grilled by his own party on what he knows about the controversial deal. Asked if Mbeki was likely to be called to testify before the committee, Phosa said the party ‘will not be tying their (the committee members\') hands in terms of who they should speak to and who they should not speak to’. Zuma has already indicated in his replying affidavit in 2005 that Mbeki was ‘very much involved’ in the process, says the Pretoria News. Privately, senior leaders in the new NEC, which is dominated by Zuma supporters, also believe Mbeki should answer in his capacity as former Deputy President of the country and for having actively participated in the process on behalf of government. Full Pretoria News report

Amid all the clamour and claims that the new charges brought against Zuma are politically-motivated, Business Day points out that there remains an 84-page indictment and a more than 700-item list of allegedly illegal payments that these supporters have yet to refute. The protests, which came just three days after Christmas and a little more than a week after Zuma’s election as ANC president, have taken aim at Mbeki for using the NPA for political reasons. There have also been expressions of no confidence in the judiciary despite the fact that in the Zuma fraud and corruption saga, the only significant action by a High Court judge has been to strike the matter from the court roll. Full Business Day report

A 16-page KPMG report that forms the cornerstone of the state’s case against Zuma for fraud and racketeering, paints a staggering picture of the complete financial hold his financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, had over him. Zuma will in August face a battery of charges in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, including fraud, corruption, racketeering and money- laundering, for allegedly using his high position in government to further the business interests of Shaik and the French arms firm Thint – in exchange for money, says The Times. The damning document shows Shaik’s astonishing generosity. He funnelled more than R4m to Zuma, according to the indictment in his looming criminal trial, in 783 separate payments between 25 October 1995 and 1 July 2005. The Durban businessman continued to pay Zuma during his own fraud and corruption trial, with the last payment going through in July 2005, two months after Shaik’s conviction. Shaik’s companies gave money to Zuma’s ex- wives, paid his rent, supplied his children with pocket money and forked out for his many debts. Shaik, who is in jail, also paid doctors, pathologists and hospitals, traffic fines, electricity and water accounts, car repayments, insurance and phone bills. Even housekeeping costs were covered while Zuma was Deputy President. Cash was also paid to Zuma’s ex-wives, funds were provided to pay for his numerous children’s education and payments were even made to boutiques where Zuma purchased expensive clothes. Zuma now faces tax evasion charges for allegedly not declaring to the taxman the income he received from Shaik and his other funders. He is also being rapped for failing to fully declare his interests as the law requires of serving MPs and members of the Cabinet. Full report in The Times

Zuma\'s two co-accused – the two SA subsidiaries of French arms manufacturer, Thales International – are not making any plans to go to court before the August date set by the NPA, according to an SABC News report. The companies each face a charge of racketeering, money-laundering and two counts of corruption. ‘We will meet them (the NPA) on 14 August,’ said Ajay Sooklal, the attorney representing Thint Holding (Southern Africa) Pty Ltd and Thint (Pty) Ltd. Asked if Thint would be seeking a permanent stay of prosecution, Sooklal said: ‘I\'m not going to run this trial through the media.’ Zuma\'s lawyer Michael Hulley said shortly after the indictment was filed that Zuma planned to apply for a permanent stay of prosecution based on the belief that his right to a free trial had been infringed. Full SABC News report

The state has identified 218 witnesses it intends calling. The list includes Independent Democrats party leader Patricia de Lille, former Judge Willem Heath and former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein. De Lille was the initial whistleblower on corruption in the R30bn arms deal, notes a report on the IoL site. Nelson Mandela\'s former attorney Ismail Ayob is on the witness list, as are numerous people who were on the state\'s list of witnesses for the trial of Schabir Shaik. Another notable name is that of Richard Young, the Cape Town businessman whose company, CCII systems, lost out on a bid to supply combat technology for the navy\'s new corvettes to African Defence Systems (Pty) Ltd – a company in which both Shaik and Thint had stakes. Full report on the IoL site